The Feared King
by Hector Flores
Summary: Yuuto was not loved in his world, so he was sent to a new one, or a different age, to help him find what he could not before, hope, dreams, honor and even love.
1. Chapter 1

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

My life was not something you would consider normal, you would think any parent would consider having a child that could learn anything he ever looked at, a child that would understand anything he could see or read, a child that always was the best student and was considered the very best, you would think such a child would be considered a blessing, well you would be wrong.

For you see I am such a child, I have these abilities, and my parents considered me a freak of nature, a monster or someone that if the law would allow it, they would dump me on the streets with nothing but the clothes on my back. Why would my parents behave this way you ask? It is simple, jealousy. That is what I am surrounded by jealousy, from my parents because I learned more than they knew, from my classmates because learning was too easy for me.

Girls wanted to use me, they say they loved me but what they really wanted was for me to help them with their homework, to help them with the things they wouldn't or didn't want to be bothered by. At times these abilities I consider them a curse, every minute of every day I end up looking at something new, learning something more, and this keeps building in my mind.

If this was not as painful as it is, it would be something, but every time I learn something new it is like if my mind was a library, and every time I learned something new, it would be remodeled, walls were torn down, and all these so-called renovations were painful, every new thing I learned, felt like someone used a sledgehammer on my head.

One day my teachers took us to a field trip to a place where they did an exhibition on the means of production, how to make steel, how the many wonders of history were invented, from paper to gunpowder, to some it was fun, to see the wonders that came from human ingenuity through displays, activities, videos and colorful wall displays.

To my fellow students this was no better than going to Disneyland, to me it felt like I was in hell, the pain, the constant pain, the agony, the teacher obsessed with her schedule, to keep the tour moving, to keep the field trip on track, I asked her, begged her to slow down, to let me sit down, but she didn't listen.

I was drowning in information, I was being buried alive in knowledge and my teacher didn't care, it was until the end of the tour that I could stand it anymore, I felt my body grow weak, and the last thing I saw was my head hitting the concrete of the stairs that lead to the parking lot.

The next day I was staring at a white ceiling, I had tubes in my arms, and in my mouth, the beep of my pulse could be heard near me, and I knew I was at a hospital. At age twelfth, I fell into a coma, and for some strange reason I have been sleeping on that hospital bed for no less than nine years, the nameplate on my chart was mine, Yuuto Suo.

The space for next of kin was empty, the pain was not as bad as I learned things from the chart, but I waited for someone to come and check on me. Guess the nursing staff did not visit the people in the coma ward that often, I mean it hurts but it is pragmatic, we are all supposed to be asleep, or at least the people around me are.

Well, I am in the arms of Morpheus, I was very much awake, very much hungry and very much tired of having all these needles and tubes all over me. So I did the only thing I could do, something even a newborn could do, I screamed my head off. The people around me were in no condition to complain so I began screaming when that didn't work I began screaming in shall we say a more colorful vocabulary, mostly involved feces and their romantic feelings towards their mothers.

It took then half a day before someone finally found me, from the uniform of the nurse I could tell I was in the city hospital, meaning this is the place where the homeless and poor go for treatment. Yes, I am really feeling the love from my parents, who am I kidding, at least it is not the city pound.

That is when I learned the awful truth, the truth that my family rejoiced when they heard about the chances of me dying, they never celebrated my birthday, but when they finally got the paperwork to declare me legally dead, I am told by a nurse that lived near our home, that they celebrated like it was new years.

The doctor also told me that since I was declared dead, they needed a name to put down on the files. I could not hold back my anger my rage at this, so I decided to pick a name that did not sound Japanese at all, in my mind I called my supposed parents demons, then I quickly apologized to the demons that are, my supposed parents were even worse.

I saw the movie trailers while I was home once so I came up with a name, it sort of came to me, "You want to put a name on my file, I will be happy to give you one, call me Surtr, for my parents to treat me like this I must be from Muspelheim. So doc what is the bad news?"

He laughed and asked me if basically being told my family pretty much abandoned me was not bad news enough, I smiled and told him, that it was good news for them, so I asked again what was the damage? "Come on doc, give it to me straight, I am paraplegic? Going to end up a vegetable? What is the worst thing that could happen to me?"

He looked at my chart and began laughing, "Well alright you want the worst, here we go, physically you are fine, you are a picture of health actually, it seems the stuff we fed you intravenously has even managed to repair a horrible case of malnutrition, so in fact you are even healthier than you were before, the headaches that you suffered will not happen again."

He put the chart next to me, "Here is the bad news, the hospital pretty much had to spend a ton of money to keep you alive, we had to replace the stuff that was being fed into you quite often, most people this stuff flows into their veins, but your body seem to suck it, never seen anything like it. Your body seemed to be ravenously hungry."

He looked at me and then at the monitor, "As for horrible, you racked up quite the debt, your family will not pay for it since they declared you dead, but legally you are twenty-one years old, so you are an adult. The options are not pleasant, you can be a human guinea pig for tests and experiments, some people will want to study your body."

So being a guinea pig for scientists that would treat me worse than a dog, great, for some odd reason that made me feel quite at home. "The other option is for you to join the military, if you sign an eight-year contract they will pay the debt and give you a chance to earn a living. That is the option I recommend if I have to be honest."

So be a guinea pig or be an indentured servant that is what pretty much sounded to me, some would say that life in the military was not so bad, so that pretty much made me decide. I signed the contract under the name of Yuuto Suo.

The military works in a very strange way, and thanks to my abilities, well they place you in a profession until you are in a place were you are challenged, in my case, that was practically never, I got perfect memory and I learn things with a glance, I was given a patch to control my headaches, but they exposed me to everything under the sun.

Well, that is not true, everything that was involved war, I learned everything involving weapons, vehicles, arms, explosives, tactics, rules of engagement, hand to hand and five languages. I learned so much that I was made an officer by the time I served my third year. Again those that were still enlisted and some officers always looked at me with jealousy clearly visible in their eyes.

One day I went to a tourist trap of a town, I went up a hill towards what I was told was an abandoned shrine, as I made it to the shrine I began to think about how my life was, how my parents treated me, how my luck or fate had been, and all I could think is I hate this world, I hate the way my parents treated me, I hate the idiots being jealous and not realizing these gifts cause me such pain and misery.

"Look, I know I don't pray as much as I should, but given the fact how my life is, who would? Why did you give me these gifts, in a place that they would never be appreciated and only earn me hate? I am sitting here on this shrine with no hope for my life or future, can't you at least send me to a place these gifts will allow me to do some good? Is a family too much to ask for?"

I honestly don't think God will answer me, and I was feeling rather tired, a little nap before I go back to base, yes, a little nap, the air feels so good for some reason, it smells so clean, almost like the stench of smog does not exits, for some reason my head feels like it is resting on something soft and warm. Something I never felt before in my life.

That is when I began to hear this beautiful voice giggling, someone with rather delicate fingers began to touch my hair and my face, "I know that I summoned you, and I have to admit you look rather comfortable sleeping on my lap, but could you at least open your eyes and tell me who you are?"

I opened my eyes and I was indeed on the lap of this rather pretty teenage girl, she had blue eyes, and silky blonde hair, I tried to get up but she simply told me to try and get up slowly, she told me she didn't want me to trip and fall again.

I did that and for some reason I so my reflection on a shield that was on a wall, my short black hair and eyes but it looks like I am fifteen years old again, or I look like I am the same age as her, I was wearing some strange robe, sort of like a tunic. I guess she dressed me when I was unconscious or did I appear like this in front of her, I mean she did say she summoned me like the sort of summoning you see in a video game or an anime.

"Well sorry to bother you, you may call me Yuuto Suo, my friends call me Surtr. Now you said you summoned me, you must have summoned me for a reason, so would you mind telling me why, where am I and what is it that you felt I would be needed for?"

She again laughed and for some reason, I don't think I will ever get tired of her voice. "I summoned you to be the hero that my people need, a person to save my clan in our hour of need, to give my people hope again, you are on the continent of Yggdrasil, and you are in the main temple of my people the wolf clan."

I touched the shield and realize it was bronze, the way the floor and columns spoke that this is a time during the bronze age, the stonework and masonry told me that this era was somewhere around 1500 or 2000 BC.

"If I can be of help to you I shall, but what is your name? I don't even know your name." She blushed and looked at me, she looked rather shy as I asked her that, did it mean that it was something rude to ask, it seems that manners have changed since my time.

"My name is Felicia, but why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?" I stepped closer to her and took hold of her hand, "Why yes, you do, you have a very beautiful face", this made her blush which means at least somethings remained the same.

"Just how long do you plan on holding my sister's hand and shamelessly flirting with her? You may have summoned him Felicia but we still have to be careful, we don't know if he is a crook where he is from, we have to take him to meet father, he will decide what shall happen to him." She let go of my hand and that is when I felt someone take hold of my hands and tie them.

"Loptr, he did nothing bad to me, can you please be a little bit more gentle? Please forgive him Yuuto, my brother Loptr can be a little impulsive and jump to conclusions. Since the moment I summoned you and saw I promised I will explain the situation to father, he is very nice, I am sure father will understand."


	2. Chapter 2

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

So basically her brother doesn't trust me, his sister does, but then again she was the one that as she called it summoned me, how exactly does that work and where are we since this building seems to be pretty big, this really does look like something from the Bronze Age, stone masonry, torches, doesn't look like windows or glass has been invented yet.

The second I walked out and began to look around I saw something that looked like scribbles, chicken scratches, and symbols, that is when I realized my so-called gifts were present here too, I felt like someone hit me on my head with a hammer, you would think that considering the era I am in, I would have nothing new to learn.

But didn't I hear from the doctor that my headaches would not hurt as much, why did it hurt as much as it did, "Loptr, seriously, did you have to hit him on the back of his head like that! I told you to be gentle, are you alright Surtr?" I did tell her my friends to call me that, but in truth, I never had anyone that would qualify as a friend growing up, I just made that nickname up.

"I guess your brother thought I was running away, or wasting his time, don't worry Felicia, I was just learning your written language that is all, if I am to live here, I will need how to read and write don't I?" He glared at me, and I am seeing a pattern here already, this guy was easy to understand, the overbearing, overprotective brother type.

"Like you can learn things just by looking at things, stop stalling, it is not like you are an Einherjar like me and my sister, come on, the sooner we go meet father the sooner he can decide what will happen to you." We walked out of the room through a long hallway and down the stairs to find that I was in the middle of a rather large city, it was rather impressive.

If the entire city tour had anything that would make others think badly of the place, it was the fact that more than a few villagers were glaring or staring at me with a suspicious look on their face while I would think their leader's son was walking right next to me with his hand on his sword, I am not kidding here, the entire tour was with Loptr, the brother of the beauty that summoned me, ready to kill me at any moment.

Yep, I am certainly feeling like this place is just like home, meaning that I am feeling as unwanted and hated as I did back home. As I walked into the room that Felicia and Loptr were both guiding me towards I saw a rather impressive man sitting on a throne, that thing must hurt like hell, the throne was made from stone.

"So my children decided to come and see me, so what do I owe this happy and rare occasion?" At least I know he cared about his children more than my parents ever did, that spoke well of him. "Felicia was praying by the chalice and I found her getting chummy with this stranger, I think he is an invader from the Claw Clan father, I thought we should bring him to you so you can decide how to deal with him."

Why do I feel like dealing with me, is more like decide how I will be executed? Yep, this sure feels like home alright, "Brother, I told you, I summoned him, I prayed to the gods so they would send us a person to help our clan, but you been nothing but rude to poor Surtr here, honestly, what is to keep him from simply leaving and ignoring our clan in our time of need?"

Actually she makes a valid point, I owe them nothing at all, "As patriarch I will decide what happens here with this stranger, so young man, your name is Surtr, that is a particularly interesting name but seeing your hair and eyes are dark, I can imagine why your parents named you thus. So tell me does my daughter speak true? Or are you an invader like my son seems to believe?"

I can't help but to laugh as he said that, "My friends call me Surtr, my name is Yuuto, Yuuto Suo, as for being a part of any clan, sorry but no, I do not belong to any clan since it appears this is not even my word. Your son Loptr seems to think of me an invader, and chances are he hates me because Felicia has been nice to me ever since we met. I didn't have much of a life back in my own world, so people hating me is nothing new. I am however a soldier, a warrior, and a scholar, if you wish to see me dead, it would not surprise me."

He got off his throne and I closed my eyes waiting to hear that he decided to kill me, too bad, I think my time here would be rather happy if I had someone as nice as Felicia by my side, well I guess that my fate is going to be the same no matter which era I am in, always hated for something I had no control of or something I caused.

"You do not need to worry, Surtr, I believe that my daughter indeed summoned you, it has happened quite a few times in our past, so you can relax, I will not hurt you, however, you need to understand one thing to remain in our territory you will need to undergo a ritual, the ritual of the chalice, am I to understand soldier and warrior mean the same thing? I never heard the word soldier before." I could not help but think he was a rather nice person if only my father had been half as nice as this man was, how my life could have been different. "Yes, sir. Now I must apologize for my ignorance but you must understand I never ever heard of a ritual involving a chalice. Could you care to explain that to me?"

He laughed and told me to follow him towards the dining area, as he sat down I was told to sit on a chair near him, "You do not need to be so formal Surtr, after the Oath of Allegiance you will be my son, it is the ritual you asked about, we swear before the chalice in the presence of a high priest, an oath of allegiance that binds us together, as family, there is a difference in position, from being brother, or children of the clan patriarch, which in his case I am the Wolf clan patriarch."

I see so due to this oath we become members of his family, be it brothers, sisters, or children, and as such since we are family, we are expected to be loyal to each other and care for each other as family. "Even though Loptr over there would very much prefer to have me executed? I somehow don't think he would be glad to have me as a sibling, not happy at all, I get the feeling we might argue and fight more than get along."

This made the man laugh, "That is quite common with brothers, you wouldn't believe it, but my younger brothers and I argue all the time, I am sure Loptr will consider you family before too long, I would prefer if you called my father, but since the oath cannot happen till we managed to get the priest to come, you may call me Ortero, for you see that is my name."

Loptr, however, was not happy, his glare and the fact he was practically growling pretty much told me this, Ok, now I wonder if they call themselves the wolf clan as a symbol or am I really in a city jam-packed with werewolves.

"Father is has always been tradition that someone must earn the right to make the oath of allegiance, we can not make exceptions, traditions must be followed or the very laws that keep order in our world become meaningless." I guess he does have a point, rule of law is important, as long as they don't decide to have me earn it by burying me in the garbage and have me chew my way out with my feet and hands tied.

"If this will stop your future complains of having this outsider as your brother, very well, you said you were a warrior, so I give you the choice, suggest to me a trial that you would find acceptable. Prove yourself worthy."

I thought of it, and considering that I am in the bronze age of all things, I would think standard military practices would be shall we say for lack of a better term be somewhat barbaric compared to what I knew.

"Put ten of your worst warriors under my command, give me complete authority over them, and in a matter of three months, I will show you what I am worth. I will train those misfits but be warned, my training is not easy or merciful, some of them might even die. So when I say give me ten of your worst warriors, I mean ten people who if they drop dead right now you would not miss or need."

He began to look at me with concern, but I would not flinch or shirk from what I knew I had to do, I had to prove myself or else, I imagine Loptr would be very happy to see me getting my head chopped off, I still don't know why he hates me, I only known him for a few hours and he treats me like he has been my enemy most of my life.

As I stood and waited for their father's decision, "Very well, I will allow it. I happen to know ten warriors that seem to be giving our strongest vanguard some trouble, if you can get these people to be fairly competent warriors, Scarfuer would be happier because of it, and you will have earned the right to swear the oath of allegiance."

The only other problem I had was where would I sleep and where could I get some clothes to be able to train these troublesome punks. Well as soon as Felicia told them that she planned to have me sleep with her on her bed, well the much-expected reaction happened, Loptr objected, and her father pretty much told me not unless I was married to her.

What is it with this blonde beauty that felt this attracted to me? In all the years of my life, I have been that popular with anyone, let alone a beauty like her, she is my age, yet I can tell that in a couple of years she could turn out to be quite an attractive lady if her figure told me anything.

"He is going to be a warrior for our clan, well he can sleep in the barracks like the rest of the warriors, no exceptions, when you get there you will be given a standard uniform and sword, if you and the fools that you are going to be with end up dying, I will not even shed a single tear."

Yep, Loptr sure if making quite the effort of making me feel right at home. No, I am not kidding, he really is somebody I could quite easily call my brother, he sure hates me as much as my parents ever did.

I was told where to go and at least the building had signs that made things easier for me. My armor consisted of leather, and my sword if you can call this miserable thing a sword was given to me by the quartermaster. I had a busy day tomorrow so I decided to turn in without eating dinner, I went to my place, and just lay down on my hay and closed my eyes.

Everything in the troops' dormitory or their military was based on merit, you want better sleeping conditions, earn it. Everything in their military was like that, from the armor to the weapons, to the food, everything. I guess this means they are constantly trying to keep their troops motivated to achieve if only to make like a little more comfortable and be able to get better gear.

As I woke up and got dressed in my armor, I walked out to find ten men waiting for me. "So you are the men that have been placed under my command, good, we don't have much time to waste, follow me, the first thing we are doing is a few laps around the inner wall."

I was ready to start when they looked at me with a look that screamed for me to go and romance a tree, "We don't have to obey a stupid wet behind the ears moron like you, you are even younger than my kid brother, there is no way I will obey anything a punk like you have to say. Why should I?"

Insubordination and we just met, great, just lovely, "You want a reason why you should listen to my orders, very well, how about this, you ten come and try to beat me into submission, but if I beat you, you will listen to what I have to say, with no further complains, better yet, you can use your weapons, I will only use my hands."

I was quickly surrounded by the ten of them, I thought they would all rush me, but no they each waited for each to make an attempt to attack, with my martial skills I managed to catch one trying to stab me in the back a swift kick and he was out, I looked at the others and with the sign I knew so well, I told them to come at me.

I began to take one after another, a kick there, a punch here, broken spears and a clutter of swords near me later, as they finally regain consciousness I looked at them, the spears only had metal tips, the swords were unbalanced, the shield was made of wood and leather, someone needs to improve these weapons.

"So you finally got done with your naps, good, so ten armed men could not even knock me out, and I am a what? A wet behind the ears punk and you ten could not even capture me, what does that say about your ability to protect your clan? Aren't you tired of being the misfits in our army? Seeing everyone get better living quarters and gear?"

I took my sword from the ground and placed it on my belt. "You don't care about your clan? Give me ninety days, three months, and follow exactly what I say, and you can finally show our entire army that you are not the misfits they think you are or are you not men enough to show them how strong you can be!"

This finally made then realize I was not here as a joke and without a word they began to listen to everything I said, we began running around and when we were done they realize why we had to do that, they look tired, they were breathing hard, and now they realized why I had them do this, I need to train them physically before they are ready for me to teach them how to be warriors.

The first day involved three miles run, push-ups, and weight training, sparring with each other, and me giving instructions on how to correct their mistakes, and as their bodies relaxed we discussed the meaning of being a warrior and how to think not on their own, but think of the good of the entire unit. To go from I to we, to think of self-benefit to what is good for those around each other, to go from fellow warriors to brothers in arms.


	3. Chapter 3

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

I can honestly say that the men under my command had made good progress, in one month I managed to instill in them the proper mentality, the proper discipline, and now we can advance to harder and difficult training, indeed these men will be a force to reckon by the end of these ninety days, the men seem also to be fully invested in the training.

It seems the planned secondary effect was taking place faster than I had estimated, these men were considered the weakest, the most useless, the ones that nobody would miss or desire, in one month of intensive training, I educated them on how to properly exercise and it was beginning to show, it will not be long before the ladies in the clan that never would bother to look at them, to reconsider that decision.

What I did not expect was the situation that I was in at this very moment, I had to designate my second to continue physical training until I could return, there was this young woman, athletic if her body told me anything, long white hair, braided together, her stance told me she has been training with weapons since the day she was born.

"If you are done ogling me, I will repeat what I said, our patriarch should not waste time in this meaningless attempt for you to prove yourself, you are a weakling, just like those men that were placed under your command, completely and utterly worthless. Why waste time on a meaningless and wasteful exercise? We should have you and those fools exiled at best or executed at worst."

She might be a young lady, but that does not mean she has any manners. "You say I am a weakling, well, you may call me Yuuto, and if you consider me weak, by all means, prove that I am weak, but once I prove that your judgment of me is wrong, you will never again interrupt me or the training of my unit, are we in accord?"

She tossed me a wooden practice sword, I guess this means yes, "You are weak, and I will not lose to you, since you will more than likely never see me again, you may know me as Sigrun, pick up the practice sword child, I will not waste too much time in defeating you."

I did and as soon as I did she tried to attack me, I blocked it with my hand as I stood ready to fight, she kept attacking me, but it was the same motions, over and over, overhead slash, cross slash, backhanded thrusts, over and over again, was she planning to bore me into submission. She has all day to waste on this foolish duel, but I do not.

I flipped the sword until it was held in a backhanded way, and as she came I struck not the sword but her hands, this caused her weapon to go up in the air and as she tried to catch it I struck her three times two in the arms and once on the shoulder, I was done holding back on her. As she got her bearings, I was already holding her weapon and with a kick, I broke it in half.

I threw the pieces hard enough to make them fall beyond her reach. "If I am a weakling, what does this say about you? Do not waste my time with such idiotic reason, I do not have time to waste on such stupidity, be grateful I am not your enemy, for they will not show you as much mercy as I, mercy, fairness, and compassion are words that have no business in a battlefield."

I began to walk away but she was not done with me it seems, "What purpose is there in you training those fools?" I did not have time to waste, so I told her, an army's strength is defined by the strength of their weakest link, by training those that are considered to be weak you improve the army as a whole.

I returned to find the men already sparring, "Good Gunther, the men are making good progress, I am ready to take back my post, you may return to spar with the rest of the men." He gave me a standard salute I taught them and did as I told him.

I went along the people sparring and continued to correct them, but after a month the mistakes happened less and less. Sword, Spear, Bow, these are weapons they would practice using till it was second nature, sparring also means being able to use a shield, all in all, much like I said these men were making good progress and it was the first month.

I could tell them the comments Sigrun said about them, could make them see that training harder was also to prove those that said such things about them were wrong, but I will not stoop to such tactics, I am better than that. My men deserve to be treated better than that. In a month I seem to have earned their respect and their progress makes me feel they have earned mine as well.

I went to sleep and for a few seconds I was sleeping quite peacefully, but now someone keeps bugging me and interrupting my sleep, I knew that sleeping in the quarters they assigned me would pretty much leave me open for Loptr to try and kill me in my sleep, Felicia would say he would never do something like that, but I know better than to leave myself to such things.

I found a rather secluded cave, and managed to make a few things for me to sleep, I sleep on the ground, with a partial tent I made thanks to some discarded market display tents, they had a few rips and thanks to some improvised needlework, and some elbow grease, I managed to make myself a few things that to me made the cave a little homey.

"Honestly Surtr, the room I prepared for you is at least a thousand times better than this, why do you insist on sleeping in this cave like you are a homeless hermit?" I knew who it was, and she was standing right next to me as I tried very hard to sleep, I had another day of training my men ahead of me, not to mention I felt tired after that foolish fight.

"Look Felicia, you know as well as I do that is in the place only members of your family may sleep, I have not made the oath of allegiance, and as such I am next to nothing to your father and even less to your brother, who I am sure he hates me enough to try and kill me. This is not as comfortable, but here I am safe."

She sat down next to me, "That may be the case Surtr, but why don't you at least think about what I go through? Do you have any idea how worried I become when I could not find you? I have been looking for you and this place for over a month, I mean you don't even eat where your men do, you have any idea how worried I also became when I don't know if you are eating or are healthy?"

Honestly, she is not my mother, I am a complete stranger to her and her family, why does she care about a guy who her brother is very much wishing I fail so that he can have me executed? I closed my eyes and try to sleep, try being the keyword, Felicia would not stop nudging my side till I got up, I know she means well but I need to sleep.

"You are not going to sleep until I take care of any wounds and make sure you have eaten something." Right now I need sleep more than I need food, why do I feel this tired, I don't know, I just do. I sat down and she began to touch me everywhere on my body, she even went as far as to remove some of my clothes, honestly here I am in a cave, getting felt up by a blonde beauty, and all I been doing is behaving like an ungrateful brat and thinking I need to sleep, what is wrong with me?

"Felicia, I do appreciate that you care and that you worry about me, it is just, I don't want to cause you more problems. You know full well that Loptr hates me, your father owes me nothing, so I can't expect him to think very well of his only daughter doing so much for a complete stranger."

She kept touching my arms, back and shoulders, "I told you before I don't care about that, look Loptr is worried that if you are accepted into the clan you will be yet another rival for his bid to become patriarch. It has been my brother's lifelong dream to one day succeed my father and become the leader of the Wolf Clan."

She finally stopped touching me and done rubbing some of the most smelly stuff on a few places on my body, "As for me, you cause me more problems with me not being able to see you, I honestly wish you would just come back to our home, and I do mean our home, and let me see you more often, I would worry a lot less, you are going to cause me to have white hair and wrinkles even before I am twenty you know."

I know that last part is an excuse, Loptr is the son of the patriarch, in the last month I been learning as much of the traditions of the people of these lands, doesn't Loptr know it is practically taboo to name your own child to be the next patriarch? It is said hereditary rule leads to decay, the way the traditions dictate is that the next Patriarch much be chosen by merits, the one with the best abilities is the one that should lead.

"Now that you found this place, I just know that you will be here every single day, guess I have only two choices, find a new place to hide, or simply accept to go back to the building you said I had a room in, I just know Loptr is going to make trouble for you."

That is when I felt her lean against my back and rested her head against me, "Well I don't care, you need to stop living like this, take better care of yourself, and come home, for me? Do it if for no other reason than to make me happy. The first thing you need to do when you get back is a proper bath." Hey, I take regular baths in a nearby stream every day, I don't like the implication that I smell.

"Alright, fine, I surrender, I will go back to the room you said was mine, when can I sleep? I am not lying here Felicia, I am really tired. I need to be up early tomorrow to continue to train my men." She pushed me till I was standing and she then took hold of my hand, pulling me to follow her lead, honestly why is this happening to me?

As I followed I got a few different looks from the people that saw us, some looked at me like they found the entire thing funny, others flat out envy, and some even glared at me, well I am walking through the middle of their city, being lead by the daughter of the Patriarch, and she is holding my hand.

She finally stopped and pushed me until I entered a room that seemed to be the dining area, she told one of what I think would be the attendants to bring me something to eat, I simply was too tired to argue anymore, I ate the food that was placed before me, I thanked the attendant and told her to thank the cook on my behalf.

I was sure this was it, but no, it was not, as soon as I finished putting my eating utensils away, she again grabbed me and guided me towards another room, the halls of this place were all made of stone bricks and clay, the walls had several torches for lighting. Where is she taking me now? Once I saw the large space, the water, and what looked to be one of the largest bathtubs I have ever seen she began to take all my clothes off.

I know I should not be shy, and I know that she is probably as naked as I am, if the rustling sound I heard meant anything, but she began to scrub me with what seemed to be a sponge made from wool, and I have to say, I nearly fell asleep while she did that, I am not kidding I am tired and I want to sleep, but try to get Felicia to understand that.

As I relaxed in the water, I felt my muscles bathed in the warmth of the water, which made me wonder how do they have a warm bath like this, this must mean they have a furnace heating some metal that was built into the bathing area. This told me they must have at least some blacksmith expertise. "Your muscles seemed so tense, now with this, you can feel some relief."

I heard her enter the bathing area, and the sound of her body entering the water enticed me to look like I never felt in my life, but I am no pervert. I kept my eyes closed to respect her as I knew I should. "Felicia, why do all this for a man you have only known for not so long? I appreciate your kindness, but I worry what others might think of you for doing this, Loptr is going to be furious."

That is when I heard someone come in, "On many things, we will never agree, but on that worry, we both agree, I too worry. Why is my sister doing so much for a stranger that could very well be a spy here to weaken our Clan or kill our father? I will not trust him till he at least makes the Oath."

That is when I felt something press against my arm, and I know what that something is if the two erect points poking my arm was any indication. "I don't know why it is something so hard for both of you to understand, why do I worry? Why do I want to do things for him? Well, the answer is obvious, because I love him, fell for him since the moment we met."


	4. Chapter 4

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

In the end I had to do as she insisted I do, I didn't do it for the comfort, or the fact that it would upset Loptr something fierce, I simply did it because Felicia would be happier if I did, I know this seems like an excuse, but if I can make her suffer less well that is something I had to do. The thing that caught me by surprise is that the concept of love, at first sight, is this old.

I mean it, I am pretty much in the Bronze age, and Felicia pretty much said that she fell in love with me since the moment we met. Considering my romantic history, well I would never believe it on face value, but the way she spoke for me to move into my current room, and the passion behind her words made me think that maybe, just maybe I found something I should treasure.

The training of my unit has been going better and better, the multi-discipline training was going very well, they were comfortable using all known weapon types, could climb very well, and the water training, which consisted of combat in water, stealth, and of course transport techniques, was less than welcomed by some, it took me nearly a month to get them to do well in this, it seems not everyone in my unit even knew how to properly swim.

The other thing I had to do is attend quite a few weddings, it seems the training made the previously unlucky warriors become shall we say more attractive to several young women, in two months these women had actually managed to get five men in my unit to both agree to marry and I had to attend every single one of those weddings.

I get the sneaky suspicion that Felicia is somehow involved in this, she is either trying to help my unit, or she is attempting to send a few hints my way. I am not part of her clan and it seems she wants to get me to commit. Even in my own time, two months is rather quickly, I don't honestly know why she feels the need to speed things up?

For all I know I could end up failing the task that I been desperately trying to achieve if I fail this my chances of being allowed to do the Oath are zero, and if this happens the fact that Loptr will demand my execution is most certainly assured.

"Honestly Felicia, I been living here, for now, two months, and every time I hear someone growling in my general direction whenever we eat a meal, it is not what you call the most welcoming feeling to be sure."

She laughed as I told her this, did she think I was joking? "That would be Sigrun, she clearly is angry on for several reasons, first your sleeping arrangements, in my bed no less, second you training is unorthodox and she considers it a wasted in effort and time, and last but not least, she can't exactly do anything to cause you to fail your little trial now can she? She hates weakness with a passion, and she considers you to be the weakest man she has ever met."

Alright, I need to introduce this time period to corrective vision eyewear, cause this person is clearly in dire need of glasses. "Look, Felicia, I will say this, I did not ask to live here, I am only doing this for you. If she feels I am weak then, by all means, challenge me to a duel. I am simply too busy with this nonsense. For crying out loud, she needs to think about your clan for once."

"I been talking with the merchants and they were telling me that the farmers and ranchers are suffering because someone is stealing their goods, and this is causing food costs to go higher to make up for the loses. Someone is grinding your Clan economy to a halt and she is complaining and glaring at me instead of doing something about it. I will take my unit and do something about it. I had planned for live training exercises so this works out well for me."

She did not look to happy to hear that, "And when exactly will you be back? How long will I miss you? You know that I worry when you are not near. So you better come back to me, our Clan, be careful and return home, to me."

I was not going to simply hear this and let it be, "Felicia, I must remind you that until I make the Oath of the chalice I am not even considered a member of the Wolf Clan, for the best I am a mere mercenary, at worse, I am an indebted servant. Your brother will probably wish I do not return alive, I know from the way he acts and looks at me he hates me."

I finished my meal and that is when she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me closer to her, "I don't care what other people think, you are mine mister, and so I tell you to come home, if you want to do it for someone, then do it for me." She kissed me on my lips for what may look for a few seconds, but she has a rune that could make her faster than normal people, so in reality, this was no small kiss. The only way I could describe is a french kiss really quickly.

I walked back to the place my troops here waiting for me, "Good morning commander, are we going to continue the same training regiment?" I looked at my second in command and began to shake my head.

"No, we are going hunting for some raiders. I have a suspicion that it is another clan that wishes to weaken the Wolf Clan for preparation to invade clan territory. Troops say goodbye to your loved ones, we are going into combat. From the location of the thefts, I think it was done by our neighboring clan, the Claw Clan, so training is now over, it is time to fight and use the training for what it was meant to."

Every man rose their spears and began clashing them against their shield. I take it my troops are also eager to begin to put their training to good use. We left towards the latest farm holding that was robbed. Sure enough, they have from what I can see from the depth and wheel marks, a few carriages and chariots. A quick strike force, move in take everything of value and leave.

The fact that they did this and no people saw them must mean they did this away from the home of the people that own the farm and possibly in the middle of the night. This complicates things since nighttime warfare techniques I know are essentially useless without anything to help with visibility. That is something this era simply does not have much besides lighting a fire or carrying torches. Probably is the reason why the decision for quick nighttime raids.

This must also mean that they either attack at early dawn or early evening, they have the same problem of seeing in the dark as we do unless they are being led by an Einherjar that has a rune that grants that person night time vision. I know I should be used to it, I mean Felicia did explain this to me quite well, but this feels still unbelievable, if not complete and utter fiction if she didn't show me what her rune can do.

"Commander, what do you expect we will face in this mission, sir?" I looked at him and could not help but to smile as he said that, good the men either want to show me that they respect me or they at least are ready to follow my lead.

"Men I expect it to be a small raiding group made up of a few dozen troops, a couple of wagons, and a chariot or two. This will be our first offensive against these raiders, however, so I expect for you all to maintain your composure and constant vigilance, we are supposed to catch them by surprise and not the other way around."

As the day went on the notion that the attacks happened in early dawn went out the proverbial window, as the sun began to set I saw a group of chariots riding hard towards the field where me and my troops were hiding, and sure enough they had no less than ten warriors on foot, running as fast as they could to catch up.

As soon as they were near some of the dry fields, where they simply left what they would not or could not use after they harvested the wheat, I signaled my troops to light the tips of their arrows and to attack now. The arrows flew through the air causing the surrounding area of the chariots to catch fire and burst into flames, burning the chariots and causing the horses to panic and step on the heads of the idiots that fell from the chariots.

The chariots had been the equivalent to early scouts, now their troops will have to come and see why the scouts failed to go back and report, this was the perfect chance to once again hide and catch them by surprise, the troops moved in a singular formation, mostly composed with swordmen, and a few shields.

When my troops where hiding at either side of the enemy, we launched a pincer maneuver and effectively killed the enemy warriors, I caught their leader by surprise and using my own blade cut his throat, some might choose to stab him through the back, but his armor was nothing to sneeze at, it was better than some of the stuff me and my men were given in fact, little in the way of protection to the neck area, that proved to be his doom.

Going through their belongings I found no less than three scrolls with detailed plans to cause the Wolf Clan to weaken to the point of begging and then their Patriarch would pretty much offer them to join his clan out of mercy, never mind that the only reason the Wolf Clan would even be in this situation is largely due to the Claw Clan.

I began to long journey back to the capital and by the time we got back it was the middle of the night, there was nothing I could do, there is no way I am waking the Patriarch just to tell him something or show him the scrolls when I could easily do so in the morning during breakfast. That was simply me being respectful.

As I walked towards the building I found someone was indeed waiting for me, Sigrun, I looked at her and could easily see this angry glare in her eyes a second, and a smug smile on her face as soon as I came near her. "So you found nothing, failed to stop the raiders, or just ran away with your tail between your legs once you realized that you could actually die."

I looked at her and tried my best to smile a diplomatic smile at the very least, "Actually the Raiders have been stopped if only for the moment, we found out who they were and who ordered the raids, and we took so long because we just delivered the few pieces of armor and weapons to your Clan's blacksmith. Ingrid told me she will study them to make improvements on your clan's armor and weapons. Is there any other reason for you to wait for me?"

She did not like the things I told her since her smile disappeared and she looked like she was ready to bite someone head off. "I figured that I should see how tough you really are, and help the Patriarch to decide if wasting time on this trial is worth it. So I did not wait for no simple reason, I am here to challenge you to a duel, maybe you will show me if you are fit to lead a unit of our soldiers even if they are the weakest we got."

I could accept her insulting me, my skin is not that thin, but to insult the men that were under my command is something I will not accept, especially after I know how much work and effort they put into their training, and this unit of soldiers just finished capturing and killing a group three time their numbers, so to call them weakest is indeed an insult.


	5. Chapter 5

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

I was fuming mad, and with good reason. I was cracking my knuckles as she looked at me with this smug look on her face. "So you want to test me, well you know that platform that is on the second floor of the place the patriarch and his family live. I will show you exactly who is weaker between us then, but I do not appreciate you insulting the men under my command."

I turned around and took off as fast as I could jumping from one stack of crates to the rooftop and running on a rope that leads to the place I was headed. I arrived and I truly thought she was coming right behind me but no, I was standing there all alone.

I waited and waited, what is taking her so damn long? Did she need to go to the bathroom before she went to where I was? Did she pick up some practice swords or she wants to duel some other day? I don't have time to waste on this foolishness, I got to change clothes for dinner, report to the Patriarch, possibly talk about my Oath and how to deal with the Clan that sent soldiers pretending to be nomadic raiders.

I kept pacing on the platform over and over and I was becoming more and more frustrated as she kept me waiting till I realized maybe this was her goal, make me angry enough to lose my composure and make a foolish mistake, so instead I sat down in the Lotus pose and simply began to meditate. I am not going to make that mistake again. My old drill instructor would be rolling in his grave if I did that.

Finally, she arrived breathing hard from the way she sounded, I opened my eyes and she was raging mad, she threw at me a wooden practice sword, really, she wants to test my abilities with this toothpick? Well, might as well get this embarrassment over and dealt with.

"You sure took your sweet time getting here, what are the conditions for this duel?" She was glaring at me and she flat out said that since she was an Einherjar if I could land a single hit since I was nothing more than a normal human. I was even now mad, this elitist mentality was not making me think any better about her.

"So one hit, all right, but don't cry when you lose." I took a stand that I learned from one of my old friends, it was a fighting style that most consider too brutal to use in tournaments, but this was not a tournament it was a fight. I was not going to show her any mercy.

She came at me without even signaling the start of the duel, a cheap shot to be sure, I evaded her strike and kept evading her strikes over and over, I needed to study her technique, to understand her level of skill with the sword, not blindly jumping at a perceived opening. If I had done this long ago I could have own that tournament but no, I let my feelings and pride get in the way.

"You can't win unless you hit me, and running away is not going to let you hit me, **get serious and stop playing, fight me you coward!** " All right I have a clear understanding of her skill level. She wants to be serious, well I am dead serious about serving her a very nice portion of humble pie.

She attacked I evaded and hit her hard on her wrist, she tried to hit me and I did a sweeping kick and knocked off her balance and hit hear on her head, she jumped to stand up but not before I hit her twice on her shoulders, and finally losing all composure she rushed me trying to limit my range of movement, so I threw the wooden sword I was holding at her and when she stroke it away, I rushed and punched her right on one of her pressure points.

It was a pressure point that I knew from boxing with one of my friends, it is a point that was situated on her chin, and when someone strikes a person on that point like I did, makes their brain shake in such a way that no matter how much she tries to get back up, she is not going to be able to do that for no less than twenty minutes.

My friend won a boxing match thanks to this point that he managed to hit by sheer luck. I walked over to her and she was still glaring at me. She kept on trying to get back up on her feet, she tried to attack me while she was sitting, and it took me simply catching her wooden sword and breaking it in two to make her realize that there was nothing else she could do.

She screamed at me some rather colorful insults, and I simply walked away from her. I have too many things to do to actually acknowledge such remarks with a response, I went to change clothes, some of them had blood stains, and I got dressed in some of the clothes Felicia had selected for me and apparently given for my use, very thoughtful of her.

I walked into the dinner and seeing that the Patriarch was not present I simply waited for him to arrive, Felicia and her brother Loptr were both sitting and drinking some tea apparently. The Patriarch finally came in and sat down, when he finally sat down I decided to sit on the seat that was right next to Felicia who was looking at me with a confused look on her face.

I honestly don't know why she was confused, I always sit after making sure their Clan Patriarch is sitting. It was a normal show of respect. "So Surtr, what have you to report on your task? Tell me what has your band of useless soldiers been able to do? I wouldn't hold my breath, I honestly expect that they accomplished nothing but waste time on this so-called trial."

Well, it wouldn't be dinner without Loptr saying something that most would consider rude. "Actually we finished our training, and to test their training my unit went to stop some troublesome of your Clan members were having with raiders. The farmers and ranchers as we were told had been suffering due to attacks and losing quite a bit to these so-called raiders."

"My unit decided to ask all the attacked farms and ranches, and we managed to determine how and where these raiders were coming from and where they would attack next. We stopped a group of warriors at least three times our numbers, and we managed to capture a few, recovered some scrolls, and we knew the entire story behind the so-called raiders."

I took a sip of my cup and looked at the angry face of Loptr before I decided to continue, "These raiders were in fact soldier from the Claw Clan that wanted to weaken the economy of your clan, and we got scrolls detailing how they would accomplish this, and orders to officers on how to proceed once they succeed."

"All in all, I think this shows that my training methods are very effective, I was hoping to discuss this after dinner not to interrupt or disturb your father's dinner, but clearly Loptr felt that this is something he wanted to hear sooner rather than later. Thank you again for the clean clothes Felicia, I feel a whole lot better after the day I had."

She leaned closer and told me it was nothing at all, she kissed me on my right cheek and she simply smiled as she sat back down on her chair. "I was planning to do an inspection of your unit to verify if you succeeded or not, but hear this and being told a neighboring Clan is the one behind the troubles I been hearing about, I will instead consider this to be proof that you have indeed proven yourself worthy to make the Oath of Allegiance. Now let's forego with this conversation and simply let us enjoy this food before it gets cold."

The food consisted of a lot of grains, some fruit and a few pieces of what I think tasted like lamb, roasted lamb with a rather sweet sauce. I have never been one for sweet tasting foods, in fact, I tend to avoid them most of the times but this evening is not one I can simply refuse. To do something like that would be rude, to do so when they clearly went through all this trouble for my benefit would be even worse.

Thanks to the mead that was on the side I was able to bear the taste of the sweet tasting food. It was something I never figured, how could they even have mead when they are barely able to use bronze weapons. Their level of technology and knowledge should not be this high, or is it the fact that this particular drink is far older than I ever knew?

I finished my meal and waited for the others to finish theirs, Loptr had two more plates of it, even after he polished off his first serving, some rather unappetizing bread snacks and a dessert made from what seems to be corn kernels in what looked to be a honey glaze. Honestly, that much sweet tasting food would make me sick to my stomach.

"I still need to discuss what shall be done about the threat the Claw Clan pose. I don't think these raids are their only objective as I said before, and I do not believe these attacks will end even if their participation in these raids has been discovered. If anything I think they will become bolder since they will become desperate their first plan did not succeed."

The Patriarch smiled at me and just nodded his head as he heard my explanation, "That is something I was also thinking, and you would be correct, they could also wish to attack you personally since you ended up killing so many of their warriors, revenge should not be something that you should discredit so easily."

"As for discussing the counter-attack plans, well that can wait till after the oath, any further discussions will be done when you are actually a member of this Clan, specifically I plan to make you one of my children, as such I think people will have to stop considering you an outsider and any plans you help with will not be ignored so easily."

That actually makes sense, they would put even more of an effort to ignore my ideas, just like my unit did before they realized that my crazy methods actually produced good results that were beneficial to them. I know Felicia trust me or at least that is the impression I got from how she talked and treated me, with good fortune maybe after this ceremony Loptr will stop being suspicious about me.

Come to think of it I know very little about the details of the ceremony or how it is conducted, I am currently that it is similar to how the military handles a similarly named oath, this means that I really need to ask Felicia about it later to be sure, had it not been for her, I would still be considered illiterate. The good thing is that they spoken language having somehow a working knowledge of that made understand their written language a little easier, but she still helped me a lot.

As I finished my meal, I took my plate, utensils, and cup and walked them over to where they actually placed the food, I would prefer to take them back to the kitchen, but the cooks clearly told me that this was the way they clearly prefer for me to place my dirty dishes, maybe they are still concerned that I might be an assassin and poison all the dishes in order to kill their Patriarch.

It was not what I would call a pleasant thought but it was one that I could understand and so I had no reason to ignore their security precautions. "So now that everyone is gone, mind telling me why you were late for dinner? You know you had me quite worried."

Felicia behaves like we been dating for years, honestly, I have mixed feelings about it sometimes, but I decided to stop worrying about it too much for my own mental health, I also decided that with her I would be honest. "I was challenged to a duel, apparently she did not consider me strong enough to be able to prove my worth to the Clan and consider the entire thing a waste of time."

"I ended up fighting Sigrun, she must really think I am that weak that she actually acted like defeating me would be easy, well I showed her the error of underestimating your opponent, after I finished beating her in the duel I came to where you and your family were clearly waiting for me, sorry to make you both worry and wait for Felicia."

She walked over to were I was and she pressed her body closer against mine, "Well I hope that you didn't kill her, she might not trust you but she is an Einherjar, I guess she didn't bother activating her rune, her rune gives her the ability to cause a lot of damage when fighting with a melee weapon after all, and mine lets me move quickly."

"Loptr has a rune that lets him understand and be able to replicate any technology he sees. So you see for our clan Einherjar are quite literally much of our military strength. During dinner, you seem to stop moving when father mentioned the oath, is something the matter? You know I want you to feel like you can always come to me, and be open with your feelings."


	6. Chapter 6

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

I looked around and when I knew we were alone, and only when we were alone I decided to do just that. "My main problem besides the fact that your clan is going to war with a neighboring clan is that I don't think Loptr will ever consider me a member of your clan, oath or no oath. I talked with Ingrid about new ways to purify and smelt metals, which means the cost of producing weapons should be lower, Loptr with his rune he could simply claim credit for the entire thing."

She laughed and looked at me with a smile, "Sometimes having a rival is quite beneficial you know, but no he might distrust you for now, but even I doubt that he does so merely because of clan security. I think someone is worried that I might have fallen madly in love with you Surtr, and let's face it, they would be wrong. There is nothing to doubt, I am."

Well, that was kind of forward of her, I guess her physical speed is not the only thing that gets a speed boost thanks to her rune it seems. I guess introducing much better smelting furnaces was not such a bad idea, but somehow I think this war will be a lot more bloody thanks to them. Ingrid had her doubts but last I saw her she looked pretty happy with how they work.

"I still haven't heard the details of the Oath yet, guess that is going to be another surprise, I hope it doesn't involve me having to fight someone in a pit to the death." She looked at me with that smile and began to shake her head.

"Nothing so barbaric, the Oath is simply that an Oath, you swear allegiance before our most sacred chalice the chalice of allegiance, it is a ritual where members swear allegiance to the patriarch and those that do become the siblings or children of the patriarch, and those bonds are considered to be stronger than even blood relations."

"If a patriarch is defeated and then asked to make an oath on the chalice to be considered the brother to the patriarch that defeated him, if he makes that oath he will be considered by the entire clan as the brother of that patriarch, this reaches down to his children, they will call a former enemy patriarch uncle. This is how strong the bond that is made due to the ritual of the chalice."

Well, that made me feel a little concerned for several reasons, "So if say I made the oath and he decides to name me his son, would that mean we are in an incestuous relationship? I mean we sleep together, with each other, and I know pretty much everything you do when you wake up."

She laughed, "Well technically yes, but in the eyes of the world, no. It is nice to hear that you paid so much attention to me. I wouldn't worry too much lover boy, we can still live together and nothing will change, well except that you will stop referring to the clan as yours and you will properly say our clan. If you are worried about Loptr I wouldn't worry too much, he will be the same no matter what you do."

On the one side, I felt better and on the other, I thought that it also made me worry. "The oath can be seen as bringing new blood into the clan after all if we were actually only able to have kids with our blood relatives you can imagine the sort of nightmarish horrors would come out of that situation. So don't worry, I can wait till you finally work up the nerve to actually ask me to marry you."

I could deflate that sort of thinking with me simply telling her she was not the only lady that was available to marry in the clan, but I am not that cruel to say or do something like that to Felicia. "Well I need to be able to provide for my wife, and any children we have, so that is going to take awhile. I mean I am practically nothing as far as most of the clan thinks, or some might even think of me either an invader or an outsider."

She began to touch my arm, when did she get this close, and why didn't I notice her move closer to me? "Which is why Father is having you and him do the ritual of the chalice tomorrow. As he said, you can then discuss your plans on how to deal with the Claw Clan, and probably he might name you his successor if your plans are successful."

"The law of our world regarding succession state that hereditary rule leads to decay, so the clan patriarchs name their successors not based on blood relations instead they name them based on merit and ability, only the best may lead a clan, and in turn, this ensures the clan's survival. Loptr and I are both children of the current patriarch, and as such, we can't be named the successor simply because he is our father by blood."

I finally understood the importance of the ritual of the chalice, and I know I could, in fact, find it rather useful for the things I would do if I was the patriarch, the ritual could very well be the means to end all conflict between the clans, bring about an era of peace and cooperation but that was something that never happened or as far as I can remember.

People change, they become wiser, they learn new things, but war, war never changes. This last mission to deal with the raiders showed me how much that is in fact true. The clans could be considered nations, and that showed me that in this regard nothing is so different. A nation tried to cause the economy of another nation to collapse for their own benefit.

"Honestly Felicia, I am not what you call that different from any other men that is my unit, honestly I am surprised that you would go this far for little old me, I mean for all intended purposes Felicia you are a princess. The fact that you are wise, beautiful and powerful, I wonder why are you single at all. So instead of choosing another Einjehar, you picked me, why?"

She blushed a little bit and smiled, "At first because I summoned you, took you away from your home, without even considering if you wanted to come, then I got to know you, see what you were doing, I actually have seen how you talked to our craftsmen and Ingrid to improve the quality of things we sell, and last but not least, you respect me, you treat me as a person and value my opinion on things, I am not just some woman you can use to have children, you have shown me that you value me, I can't tell you how rare that is. So Surtr believes me you are the one that is quite the catch."

I honestly wanted to go back to the barracks and sleep, I just finished talking to yet another group of farmers on the benefit of crop rotation, they all pretty much told me to keep my dumb ideas to myself, that since I was no farmer I had no business telling them anything about farming. Guess the patriarch is right unless I do the ritual of the chalice everything I suggest will be ignored.

Well, any future suggestions were put on hold, till they had no way to tell me that again. I mean I go out of my way to help them and they do this.

The next day luckily was the day of the ritual, so that large ornate thing was the chalice, and it seems ever relative of the patriarch was present to see this, again this made sense, if the ritual was done without anyone watching they could dismiss it as a lie.

Two cups were placed on a table I was told to go to the one by his side, "I, Fenrir, Patriarch of the Wolf Clan swear by the chalice that the young man, Yuuto Surtr Suo is from this day forward my son." He took the cup before him and took a drink, placed the empty cup right before the chalice.

"I, Yuuto Surtr Suo swear by the chalice that the man beside me, Fenrir, Patriarch of the Wolf Clan is from this day forward my father. As his son, I swear to make him proud and honor him through my deeds." I took the cup and without even waiting a second I took a drink of it, it was water, for a second I was thinking this was something like Sake, I placed the cup right next to the chalice.

Everyone present began to smile, and some even laughed, well all except Loptr but after all this time I am not expecting him to jump from sheer joy from the fact that from now on we are brothers. "I will wait till you wish to discuss how to deal with the Claw Clan, father." He began to laugh as he heard me say that, "Honestly Surtr, I ask you as your father, why are you so formal son?"

I told him that I did not want to be disrespectful, he laughed and began to slap me hard on my back. "Do you honestly think I would do this if I thought that you were not worthy to be a part of my family? You do not need to worry about me, I know you are an honorable person, you are my son after all."

As the ceremony ended and a brief celebration began, I should really call it a party but with over fifty people how can I? Why brief? Well as fate would have it Loptr was not happy for several reasons and all of them involved me for some reason or another. First Felicia was sitting right next to me, second she insists to cut my food for me, and last but not least she has been drinking straight from my cup.

The only thing missing was me wearing a suit, her a wedding dress, and this could be called a wedding reception. From the way she is blushing, I am almost thinking she can read my thoughts. I sure hope that is not the case considering the kind of dreams I been having since I moved into the room she prepared for me.

"So Surtr, since you are my brother from now on, I hope that you will be a little bit more open with your feelings with me, I am having a hard time guessing what you are thinking sometimes." Well, I should really be thankful that she can not read my mind, or wait did she say that because I was thinking she could? When did I become this paranoid?

"I have always been very honest Felicia, I can tell you that I think Loptr is actually fuming mad at me this very moment, he keeps glaring at me ever since the ritual of the chalice even began." She laughed and took another sip from my cup, doesn't she know that is something that in my original time was called an indirect kiss?

"You have to understand our brother, he is worried that since you will be able to implement all kinds of strange and as some people call them crazy ideas, well he thinks you will cause undue harm to our clan, you should realize that he has never seen how you trained your unit, or how you brought the raids against our farmers and ranchers to an end."

I did make sure he could not see that for a reason, I always thought that since he was an actual member of the clan he could order my soldiers to do something stupid just to make me fail. I wouldn't put it past him to do something that petty.

As she said that they were crazy ideas, well that reminded me of an old saying I heard a person say, a genius is never recognized in his own time, well I guess I better really take it slow with me introducing technology and scientific knowledge from my original time, seeing Loptr he will proclaim I made a deal with the devil and try to burn me at the stake or worse.

After about five more indirect kisses from her I began to realize that one if I don't put a stop to this I am not going to have a single drop out of my own cup, and two I think she is daring me to do something, considering Loptr considers me crazy and weird, well I decided to do something about this.

When she was about to take yet another drink from my cup, I placed my hand on hers to stop her, that made her stop and began to look at me, I took my hands pulled her closer, and without even thinking about it too much or so it looked, I kissed her, and I mean really kissed her in a passionate way, if she is already trying to do an indirect french kiss, might as well do the real one.

After the kiss ended and she was blushing like never before, some of the people around us laughed, and some began to blush, Loptr was not doing too much of that, he was doing his best impression of a growling beast.


	7. Chapter 7

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

"The Claw Clan wants to limit or reduce our resources, by limiting or stealing our capacity to feed our clan, they hope to weaken us to the point it will be easier to take over. They could either be doing this subjugate or eliminate our clan. As such I say we fight in a more honorable way that they did, we are wolves, we should not lower ourselves to be mere bandits."

Loptr looked at me while he glared, "I do not agree with Surtr, I believe that we should treat them as they are so willing to treat us, they wish for our clan to go hungry, well it is only fair that we make them feel that but several times worse than they ever could do to us. We can disguise our troops to look like Claw Clan raiders and attack their ranches, farms and grain silos."

I looked at him and began shaking my head, "You suggest we behave, live dishonorable thieves, I say a significant enough of a victory that would show the Claw Clan patriarch that we are serious about defending ourselves, we could even open a dialogue to annex them into our clan. We can achieve this with limited loss of life of their common folk."

Loptr looked at me and he spat on the ground, "You are far too merciful for my liking brother, far too forgiving, did you think they would offer us such mercy had they considered how to treat us? I don't think so, the food shortage would cause death not only to our warriors but to all of our clan. Invite them to be part of our clan? Are you as insane as I once suspected you to be?"

Alright, that insane comment made me angry, we are discussing strategy he should be mindful of his manners, especially since we are talking with father and our uncles. "An eye for an eye leaves the world dumb and blind, we need to think beyond the here and now, we might later need the Claw Clan troops to strengthen our own defenses."

Loptr was looking like he was not happy to hear me say that, "I don't care about them, I believe that if they are a threat to our clan, no mercy should be considered, and we should do to them as they clearly planned to do to us, they wanted to kill our clan, why should we do the same thing to them?"

"Because we are not like them, we are honorable. Honestly brother, what do I have to do to make you see that revenge is a self-destructive act, it harms both parties in ways that could lead us astray. Father this argument is getting us nowhere, what do you suggest we should do?"

He was quiet for a long time and then he looked at both of us, "I do see what you both mean, and you are correct this argument is only costing us time to act, so here is what I shall do. Surtr you take your unit and Loptr you take the same number of people to form your own unit, I will leave you both to solve the problem as you think is best, think of this as a test of your abilities."

I do not like the sound of this, to me it sounds like he is using this situation to test which of us should be his successor and if Loptr actually thinks he is not going to be chosen well that could cause him to do something monumentally insane out of sheer hatred or desperation. I am not an Einherjar I do not possess a rune in my body that allows me to do almost miraculous things.

Loptr has one that can basically let him copy any technology just by looking at it, that means if he meets an army with better armor or weapons, thanks to his rune his side could destroy the opposition's advantage, in a strategic sense that is immense. I may have knowledge from the time I was born in, but many of the things will have to be adapted, there simply is no way to produce the necessary materials.

These adaptations to inventions from my time could end up making the armor or weapon stronger, or more than likely some of these modified inventions could turn into nothing more than wasted materials, in other words, failure.

I, however, understand that it is not my place to tell father what he should or should not do. I can only do as my own ethics dictate and do the very best to solve this situation to the best of my abilities, thousands of people depend on us and me for one will not let our clan down.

As soon as we were told we were dismissed we both left the meeting, Loptr I imagine went to form his own unit, and I left to meet my second in command and see what we could do about the situation, I actually had a pretty good idea of what we could do, but I really need to hear his opinion on the matter in case I forgot to consider something.

"Commander I gather that you did not have a chance to discuss your strategy with the patriarch?" I told him that father has many things on his mind and as such he left the situation to be solved by me and my brother. This made the unit smile for some odd reason, for some strange reason hearing me call the patriarch father made them all become rather happy.

"So the ritual of the chalice has taken place, good, too bad that you could not present your strategies, but we are happy that you are no longer going to be treated as an outsider by the members of our clan. I gather that we will proceed as planned then?"

I looked at him and could not help but to nod my head, "Yes, send scouts to find the armory locations of the Claw Clan, and eliminate their stockpile of weapons and armor. This places will be heavily guarded and thus we can eliminate a good portion of their military strength not to mention possibly capture or kill many of their officers."

"Innocent and none combatant casualties are not allowed, innocent citizens shall not be our targets. We shall do everything we can to capture and kill only as a last alternative, but never unarmed citizens. This should keep their casualties to a minimum, and help us when or if the Claw Clan decide to join us at some point."

This is when they looked at me like I was insane, "The Claw Clan is doing something downright selfish on our Clan, true, but they do have a good deal of cunning since it took us this long to figure it out, and if we hadn't they would have succeeded. We got other clans that downright think of us as mutts."

One finally put up his hand and looked at me with this utter look of confusion, "What would be your grand plan for our Clan if you became the patriarch?" Well that is a silly question, why in the world would I be named patriarch, I haven't been a member of this clan not even a week and this is asked? Well, why not simply answer to at least make the guy feel better.

"If I was patriarch I would probably fight every single Clan on Yggdrasil, and pretty much have them all join together under the banner of the Wolf Clan, making the entire population sort of a big family, causing war and conflict to end, and probably I would settle down with someone special, and focus on the cultural advancement of our people, maybe develop better healing methods."

Alright, this is the time when they all bust out laughing, as I told them the more hilarious joke that ever existed, till they looked at me, and realized I was dead serious about that, in fact, I already have someone that I would settle down with, and I sleep with her, I actually started even before I was part of her Clan, so yea, I was not joking and didn't find my answer to be that funny truth be told.

"So let's go, the sooner we take care of the Claw Clan's arms the sooner we can get this entire conflict over with. We will gain the attention of a few other Clans so that means we need to train even harder, trust me, if we manage this, other Clans will feel threatened and they will attack us."

As we both began to go towards the Claw Clan territory, we did as I told them, we captured several captains and a few higher officers, we actually got them to tell us quite a bit especially after I heard another unit pretty much burned a city named Vann to the ground, I sure hope my brother Loptr didn't actually do that, it would be a good reason for other people to demonize us, and that makes things harder for us.

If the way these captains begin to tell us everything they know for simply promising not to burn the town to the ground I honestly don't know if this is a good thing. Well in truth I have been coated with oil, and some people tried to burn me alive, well that was not exactly pleasant. The second thing that was not very pleasant was they began to look at me with this utter fear from the common folk in towns we went through.

Do they honestly think I am going to stop in the middle of town, kidnap babies and throw them in a pot to cook myself a stew from a dozen crying infants? One of the women pretty much got on her knees and begged us not to destroy her village. I wouldn't even consider that as an option, yet somehow one look at me and she thinks I would actually do that.

I honestly needed to know what happened, so I went to the cell where the last captured officer was being held. "Alright, I been getting some rather confusing attitudes from your clan members and citizens, so I need you to tell me in detail what happened in the city of Vann?"

He tried his best to hide his anger but I could notice it, it was boiling beneath the surface, "Vann was a mercantile city, they only sold and produced things our clan traded with neighboring cities and clans, out of nowhere a group of men should up with your clan's emblem, they did not wait a second before they set fire to the fields, they killed everyone that ran away from the smoke and fire."

"They did not speak, they simply went from field to field burning and killing everything in their path, till they reached the city, the jammed the city gates shut and began to fire flaming arrows at the roofs of the building, the entire city began to burn, and with the gates shut, people began to beg for mercy to be allowed to exit and save themselves, no one was shown any mercy, everyone in the city died shocking on the smoke, and burned till the city was nothing more than ashes."

I would never order such a thing, it is unthinkable, such needless loss of life, the artisans, traders, people who lived to learn their vocation all lost. "Why ask me about your deeds? Are you so evil that you wish to see people suffer?"

After hearing this I could understand his anger, why people treated me the way they did. "I did not order such acts, I never even been to Vann, I would never do such things, it is barbaric, no better than the acts of beasts, I see, I know understand your anger, I would feel the same given the situation. My one motivation in my acts is the pursuit of peace. Your Clan tried to starve us out, but even after that I would never do such things."

The man did not believe me for a second, till he looked into my eyes, "I see, so what would it take for your clan to stop their attacks on mine?" I told him that I would need to be able to meet with his patriarch and negotiate a surrender. I told him then his patriarch would have to do the ritual of the chalice and become a sibling to our patriarch.

This immediately caught him by surprise, "You mean you would welcome our clan members as your family, we would treat each other as relatives? You would not want to eliminate the Claw Clan entirely or force us into slavery?"

I looked at him and began to shake my head, "I would never force your clan to be slaves, I spoke only truth. But sadly I need to meet your patriarch my warriors have only been fighting to try and get near your clan main city so that I can send a missive to your patriarch."

He finally began to laugh, and out of nowhere his appearance began to shift and change, he looked a lot older than he did when I met him, "Then you do not need to fight any longer, for you see you are already meeting the Claw Patriarch, I believe in leading your troops by example, it seems you are the same. I agree to your conditions, once I meet with your patriarch we can arrange for the high priest of the empire to come for the ritual of the chalice."


	8. Chapter 8

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

Ever since the ceremony was over and Clan Claw officially became a part of our Clan, Loptr has been glaring at me non-stop. I honestly don't know if he was angry because the war did not last long, or because I was the one to start the negotiations, then again it could be the way Felicia welcomed be back to our home.

I came riding in on my trusty steed, and as soon as I dismounted and got back from making sure my friend was taken care off, I walked over to the large stairs that lead to our home, the second I walked in I saw Loptr was standing by the entrance archway. I guess he had something to say to me. He did not get a chance to.

The second Felicia saw me, she ran towards me, pounced me and began to give a rather tight hug, and she finished by giving me a kiss that made even father blush. Loptr simply continued to glare at me as she leaned on my chest placing her head against my chest. She sounded pretty happy for some odd reason.

"Now that the ceremony is over, I have some matters to discuss with you Surtr, and no Loptr for the last time you can not be present for this discussion, it is a personal matter between me and your brother. Now I know you are probably hungry, so the sooner we get this resolved the sooner you can get ready for dinner."

That was my cue to shut up and follow him, as soon as we were in his private quarters we each sat down, he behind his large desk and me in a chair in front of said desk, I know this is not the case, but I still think sitting here he feels rather intimidating, I know he is my father, but if he wanted to talk to me in private it could mean one of two things, I fouled up, and he will scream at me for a few hours on how badly I messed up and what my punishment will be, or he has another task for me.

"Felicia was very worried about you, she kept praying for your safety it seems my baby girl has picked you to be the future father of my grandchildren, Loptr was complaining that you undermined his efforts to eliminate the Claw and his plan to annex their territory. The Claw Patriarch, however, said quite a few nice things about you, he praised your diplomatic ability and intelligence in ending the war quickly."

I looked at him, "I am flattered that Felicia cares so much about me, even if I am not deserving, and to prevent the colossal waste of life, I decided to end the war as quickly as possible. The Claw Clan happens to be one of the most literate clan I heard off, it would be a tragic loss for us to lose them simply because Loptr wanted to be recognized as a mighty warrior."

He took a sip from his cup and looked at me with this serious look on his face, "Exactly my thoughts, the loss of such skilled people would be an unacceptable loss. I know that Felicia has taught you the laws that govern our world, so you should know that as much as Loptr may want to be named my successor, I can not do so."

"I have made a decision after seeing how both of you decided to prosecute the war, and it became clear as day after I heard what you said, I am sorry son, but your initial request that you not be considered as a successor is rejected, I have chosen you to be the next Patriarch of the Wolf Clan. I know that some might say it has not been that long since you joined my family, but I know you will lead as I would have."

I could not believe what I am hearing, the sheer shock of it caused me to lose the grip of my cup and it came crashing down on the floor, I guess it was a good thing that it fell before I managed to fill it.

"Father you can't do that, you know that Loptr has always dreamed of being the next Patriarch, there is no way he would accept this, you could easily name one of my uncles. Why would you name me to be your successor? Please don't tell me it is because of Felicia."

He began to laugh for a little bit and then looked at me, "As a Patriarch I can not allow my decision to be influenced by my feelings, I must always think of what is best for my Clan, personal ambitions and greed will cause our people to suffer, that is why I named you my successor, you are correct I was also aware Loptr wanted to eliminate the Claw for his own fame."

"You, on the other hand, my son, you wanted to eliminate the threat to our Clan, and with the Claw now joining us, we will have a stronger source of food, you might not know this Surtr, but the Claw is very good at growing food, they are also some of the most literate people I ever met. Having them join us will be a boon for our Clan."

So he picked me because I didn't do things in a selfish way, still, I don't think my big brother will take this news well, I understand why father is doing this, but Loptr can be rather impulsive, he might do something that I rather he didn't.

"Very well, I will accept this decision but only with if you accept one compromise, you were the new chain mail shirt Ingrid and I been developing under your clothes, you may call me paranoid, but I rather you be safe when you announce this shocking news."

He again laughed and smiled at me, "What? You think that Loptr will try to kill me as a form of revenge for not picking him?" Knowing big brother as I know him, I can't help but think that, but no, I think he will try to kill me and Father might want to protect me for the benefit of the Wolf Clan.

"I rather be prepared than be sorry, you dying would harm our clan by us losing your wisdom and experience that I as the next Patriarch would need, it also affects me personally because I don't want you to die before you at least meet your grandchildren, if I ever manage to have kids."

He looked at me smiled and pulled me closer to him as he placed his hand on my shoulder, he laughed, "I must be blessed by the gods by having such wonderful children. I wouldn't worry too much you saw the way Felicia kissed you, and if it will make you relax sure, I will try the new chain mail that Ingrid and you developed. It sure feels nice to know that my son will follow in my footsteps."

I thanked him for what he taught me and for his kind words, but I still had things to do. "Good night Father, have a pleasant night's dream, I still have some things to do, I have to see how things are going with my other projects. Somehow I don't think I will have time if I am named Patriarch."

He laughed and he went towards his bedchambers. Father thinks I am kidding, but I am not, many of my uncles are secretly hoping Loptr becomes Patriarch I know it, they have never been happy with the notion that I lead our clan.

As I left I walked in the direction of the forge, I hope the pieces are ready, I need to improve the mobility and stability of our cavalry unit. I have secretly been talking with the main clan tanner and with Ingrid about improving our unit by providing them with better saddles. A more comfortable ride for both the horse and rider.

As I walked I saw Sigrun standing near the entrance to the forge, I don't need this right now. I have work to do and having another duel is not what I call an efficient use of what little time I have.

"Yuuto, I am here to challenge you to a duel. I hear that our Patriarch and you had a private talk. That has made quite a few people think that the talk was about who will be the next Patriarch, I must make sure that the next person who leads our clan is strong enough to do that."

Again, I knew that she wanted to duel me again, how many times must I defeat this woman before she realizes I am not as weak as she thinks. "Fine, but let's get this over with as soon as possible. I have work to do and wasting time will hurt our clan more than you realize. No weapons, come at me, right here and right now."

She rushed trying to punch me, yep, just what I expected thinking her strength rune will guarantee her victory yet again, as she came closer I did a low kick made her lose her balance and with the momentum of her strike, I flipped her over and threw her hard against a wall. She got up and I did the same thing again and slammed her on the ground.

I spent thirty minutes with her trying to punch me and me practicing judo throws, basic judo throws. She was breathing pretty hard, her hair and clothes were a mess, I walked over to brush some dust from her head and as soon as I did that she ran away for me, what is the matter with her?

I came into the forge and saw that the saddles were close to being finished, "Ingrid, are you in here?" She came out and boy she looked like she was upset for some reason. I guess she saw the beating I gave Sigrun and was unhappy about that if she was Felicia she would waste no time in telling me exactly why she was upset.

"You kept me waiting, and as you see the new stirrups are finished, now we only need to work them into our saddles and everything should be ready for testing. I heard that you went to talk alone with our Patriarch, is there anything I should know about?"

I looked at her as I checked the stirrups, "Yes, you do, but this must remain a secret between you and me, Father has agreed to wear one of the new chain mail shirts that you made. Be sure to deliver it to Father by tomorrow morning, I am thinking that he might need it. He was just giving me a lesson on Ethics."

She had this look that screamed that she didn't believe a single word I said about the lesson. "Sure, I will give him the undershirt tomorrow before morning starts, but that does not tell me why you were late? Did you happen to be spending that time flirting with a certain blonde haired beauty?" There aren't that many people in our clan with blonde hair.

"No, I spent half an hour sparring with Sigrun, you would think after our last duel she would understand that I am no weakling, but no, she challenged me just as I was walking towards the entrance to the forge."

Ingrid looked at me and understood what happened, "Well she is the strongest among our warriors, how did you manage to win? With her rune, she could have ripped you to pieces so how is it that you won?"

I looked at her and could not help but to sigh, "I been a warrior for just as long, and no, I didn't use my strength to win, I used hers. There are forms of fighting, schools of combat that revolve around the idea of using strength in various ways."

"I simply used one that revolves around turning the strength of an opponent against themselves. The stronger her punches, the faster they got, and thus I used that against her, made her lose her balance and turned her speed and strength against her. I don't like to do that to her."

"I hate hurting anyone in our clan Ingrid, it feels wrong and it hurts me much worse than I could hurt them. I just hope this is the last time Sigrun challenges me to a duel. I pray that tomorrow when Father tells them his decision, that a bigger tragedy does not happen, did you finish my gloves?"

Ingrid walked away from me to walk to a nearby table and she picked something up, as she walked back she was smiling, "You got any idea how tough it was to make these? I had easier times making lances than these. Why do you even need gauntlets, because that is what they are."

I told her as she handed them to me and I put them on, "I need them to prevent the tragedy that could happen tomorrow, the same reason why I worked to develop the chain mail undershirt. Ever since we began to fight against the Claw Clan, I realized that our warriors need better armor, you did too, or else you wouldn't have agreed to help me with these projects."

She looked at me and as she was walking away she turned around as I was getting ready to leave, "No, actually I agreed to help you with your crazy ideas because if this got you to spend some more time in the forge, more time with me, well that was good enough for me."


	9. Chapter 9

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

The gauntlets are Ingrid call them were leather gloves with a mesh of flexible chain weaving in the inside of the gloves, I had to be ready and I also had to dress appropriately since during dinner father said that he had a big announcement, an announcement that could very well affect the entire clan and our ally Claw clan, which is why their patriarch and several of his close relatives would come.

I did my best to try to persuade father into rethinking what we talked about, he simply would not budge, he even said to me that naming your child as a successor would be against tradition and would defeat the entire reason why merit dictates who will be the next patriarch, nothing but ruin would be in the future of our clan should he decided to do as I asked.

As everyone finishes eating their food, I was even surprised by the size of a feast father ordered for his announcement, it felt more like a celebration than it should. He stood in front of the people watching, in the large hall outside of the main dining hall.

"You are all probably wondering why did I have this food and drink prepared, why I said that you all had to be present for an important announcement. The truth is before our struggle with the Claw Clan, I talked with my two sons. I hate to say this but that war was also a test of their abilities to lead. I told my sons that depending on their actions I would choose one of them to be my successor as the next Patriarch of the wolf clan."

He motioned for me and Loptr to stand right next to each other. "Loptr showed great initiative and ingenuity, his bravery in combat is clear to see, however, I also know that a city because they refused your demands. These deaths could have been easily avoided and knowing that the Claw Clan later joined us, I mourn the deaths of these people."

"Yuuto, he considered everything in his prosecution of this war, he made details plans, allowed cities that wish not to fight in the war to surrender, took prisoners and even manage to talk to some of their officers to look for a means to end the war quickly and without having to harm innocent people, he was summoned into our world and our family, yet his actions prove he is a son I would always be proud of."

He closed his eyes and he asked us both to stand in front of him. "I have discussed this with my brothers and taken into consideration their suggestions. My son Surtr asked me to reconsider, to spend more time thinking about it before I made a decision, not to make rash decisions. Every reason he gave me without him realizing this made me realize I was correct in my decision."

"I am sorry, son, I can not grant your request after all. I have decided who shall be the next Wolf Patriarch, I am announcing it before my family and our allies that the person who shall lead the Wolf Clan after I step down is, Yuuto Surtr Suoh. His request was that I name anyone other than him, that this would enrage my eldest son Loptr, that it could end up causing a tragedy."

"His care for the well being of others, his calm and clear decision making, his understanding of how to achieve a goal without needless sacrifices and his willingness to look for the well being of the entire clan over his own personal desires are reasons why he should be named and is named by the successor."

I could see Loptr's body shaking, I could practically see the rage build within him, and almost as if I could see what would happen I rushed and stepped between father and my big brother catching his sword as he was about to strike at me. In his rage he stepped back and was ready to strike me down, had I not stepped between father and me, father would have tried to take the strike of my big brother's sword, and I simply could not let that happen.

" **You traitor! You are not even a member of this family, you don't deserve to lead my Clan! I told Felicia that you were just using her affections to gain power. You even lied to her saying you had no rune when it is clear to me as I look at your face that you indeed have one. It has been my life's dream to be able to be the next Patriarch following my father's footsteps and you stole that from me!"**

He got to say his side of this argument, and seeing I caught his sword with my right glove, he is not going to be swinging this blade any time soon. **"I will now tell you what I think, I never wanted to take your dream from you, you are my big brother, I never wanted to hurt you, but clearly the feeling is not mutual. Brother, we can not or should not think of personal pride, we have to think of the well being of our Clan, I told you rash decision lead to tragedy."**

He stepped closer to me, **"No Surtr, you know full well that this was my dream and you tricked father into picking you to know this, you don't care about anyone but yourself, you who says we are siblings, yet my own flesh and blood sister is ready to jump in your defense. Don't think for a moment I did not notice you taking hold of that whip Felicia! You couldn't have hurt me more than what you have done!"**

Who is the older brother here? I swear he is acting like a spoiled brat that didn't get his way. If appealing to his emotions did not work, that leaves me only with logic or his ego. I think I shall try both.

" **You say you want what is best for our clan? Then do this, when in other clans a younger sibling is chosen as it happened with our father, uncle did not do as you are doing, he stood by his side, worked together to protect our clan, and even died to protect his brother from an assassin that tried to kill him by killing mother and pretending to be her."**

I could see his mind working through what I told him, he is impulsive but stupid I don't think so, **"I would sooner kill you traitor than work with you, by choosing you I see this is not the clan I once knew, the clan of my father! I will leave and once they see how worthless you really are, without me to help you, they will beg me to take my rightful place, and when that happens I shall have my revenge!"**

I tried to stop him but father told me to simply let him go. Everything in me told me he would eventually become trouble for us, everything told me he would do his best to see any improvements I make for our clan fails, or worse he could end up our enemy. I also know the best choice is simply to kill him, but that is something neither he nor I would ever wish for.

He might hate me to the point of wishing for my death, but the feeling is certainly not mutual. Father looked at me and I saw he pretty much thought the same thing as I did and Felicia simply ran to my side and began to cry, her tears and wails were heard by everyone present in the room. I put my arm over her shoulder and pulled her in a hug, trying to be supportive. Is it my imagination or did Ingrid glare at her when I did that?

As I was told to kneel in front of the chalice both father and me were facing the chalice and as the ritual happened they would take one of the pieces of what seem to be jewelry off father and place on me and each time everyone would clap, a ring first, a bracelet next, a necklace then and finally the clan symbol was branded to my back. The last one hurt like a lot and I was not expecting it when they say jewelry I think I would not classify branding something to my back something that qualifies.

"With this ritual completed, now I say that my son you are the new Patriarch of the Wolf Clan, may your deed make your clan grow and prosper during your years," I asked Father what would happen to him he simply laughed and told me that he simply would relax more with having much less to worry about and he would stay around as an advisor of sorts in case I needed some advice from him.

"Honestly son, I wouldn't worry too much, you got the clan, my brothers, and Felicia to help you, even without them something tells me you will do just fine. The first problem is that since you defeated Sigrun in open combat at least once, this proves that you are her superior when it comes to combat and she will have to take the oath of the chalice and before your very first sworn daughter."

I was not liking the sound of this, I am not even married and just because I defeated her in a duel, now I am going to have the person I defeated be my daughter? "I know, I know, you are thinking how can you be the father to a person that is almost the same age as you? Trust me this is for the best, as your sworn daughter she will gain all the benefits of being a member of your family, and she will never challenge you like that again since she will be considered your daughter."

As I looked at my uncles I began to feel concern, these are men who were passed over not once but twice as far as I know, and the fact that I am younger than them will definitely rub them the wrong way, I need to focus, to make it clear that having me be Patriarch is a benefit, not a hindrance or the history I know shall repeat again.

As everyone left after the Oath that made Sigrun my daughter, I told my daughter to go and check on the progress of the project Ingrid and I have been working on. She didn't say anything at all, she bowed and left the room. "Father I thought that something like this would happen, that is why I asked you to reconsider. Loptr's desire to be the next patriarch was well known, in fact, I don't think there is anyone in our clan that didn't either hear about it."

He looked at me as to where I sat and began to shake his head for a little bit, "I heard the rumors too, but like I said I could not let myself be influenced and now neither can you. I thought hard about who to name my successor, the only reason I could make a decision so quickly was because of the war with the Claw. Had peace remained it more than likely it would have been decided by the tournament. Your brother Loptr may blame you and is angry, but at the very least he is alive."

I walked to a nearby table and took a pitcher and served myself and father something to drink. "You know I would never want to hurt him, but you are right, I have to think of the welfare of the Clan first and foremost. The other thing I worry is that this might have ended any romantic relationship I might have ever had with Felicia."

He nearly choked when I said that, "Son, are you sure you are well? It seems you must be confused if not dazed, didn't you notice how happy and proud she looked when I named you my successor? Honestly, Surtr had you not decided to get started on your new duties, she looked like she wanted to celebrate with you, in private."

I know he is my father but is this some veiled attempt to tell me he wants some grandchildren? That the previous Patriarch wants to hear the sound of little children running through the halls? I wish I could tell him that indeed it could happen if Felicia was as eager as he said, but duty comes first.

The project Ingrid and I been working on is making a stronger metal to produce better armor, weapons, and tools. I used everything I knew about metals to try to make our forge at least close to the standards of the world where I was born. Who knew geology and chemistry would be so useful? I think that my economics teachers would laugh if they knew now I had to manage an entire economy.

"I expect that the new alloy will be ready for use by the end of the year, the new tools for farming will help our farmers immensely, the new mill should be ready by the time of the next harvest, I will try to get our masons to begin construction of the silos for the harvest to store newly harvested grains. By the end of the year I want to redesign the city to prevent fires, the roads that lead to it and within, and last but not least our walls."

Father began to laugh, "Son this is your first day as wolf patriarch and you are planning more in one day than what I planned in a year. I think you need to take things at a low pace, relax, and take care of things one at a time, you also need to look after yourself and of course Felicia. Had Loptr not decided to abandon us like that, I imagine you both could have done all those things you mentioned together."


	10. Chapter 10

This is a Master of Ragnarok, Blesser of Einherjar Fanfiction Only.

Ingrid really did a wonderful job at making that new alloy, well for the most part, we had very few mines so supplying the forge with high quality iron was not going to be possible, I swear the prices on the iron itself was making me have headaches just by looking at the different prices I obtained.

Never mind the fact that most came from neighboring clans, which pretty much told me that the main problem is they simply did not wish for the wolf clan to get their hands on any amount of iron. If Loptr was here I know exactly what he would want to do with it, make the new alloy, make as many armors and weapons he could and invade the very clan that sold us the iron in the first place.

I honestly don't know much about the Hoof clan, and I can't ask our ally the Claw because for some strange reason they have been extremely busy as of late, if I was a paranoid man I would say they are planning something, alright I am paranoid, but even I want to think that our allies are not planning to stab us in the back sometimes.

The new mill proved to be a blessing, thanks to it we can process grains a lot faster, and thanks to the new silos the clan's capacity to store grains has grown immensely, it has been three weeks and you wouldn't believe that a month ago the people of our clan were having trouble having enough food for two meals a day.

In three weeks every person that lived in our territory could buy affordable bread, and because of it, some people even turned traders and sold the bread that our clan made to other nearby cities and clans. It is thanks to these traders that I got so much information about metal prices and other goods that our clan would need to expand.

Felicia moved into my bedroom, I am not kidding, she actually walked in the very next day I was declared patriarch and declared my bedroom now to be her permanent room. Who would complain that an absolutely beautiful lady moved into the room of a single guy? Who would complain that she actually does not like to wear clothes when she sleeps?

In case you haven't noticed my tone, let me say it quite plainly, I am complaining. Yes, she is a beauty, and I got to see her in various forms of undress, but she snores like a grizzly bear with a head cold. This is no exaggeration, I live next to our father and two of my uncles, they actually asked for thicker wool for their pillows.

That is when I realized that my father and uncle were right, and I asked for one myself. That is the only thing that let me sleep at night, with a scratchy, pillow over my head, using it to block out her snoring. I swear I want to find a way to invent snore remedies, such as those strips that my dad used to wear. I also think that maybe if I got her to wear something, I could sleep next to her and maybe push her so she sleeps on her side.

I still think that someone buying so much iron or hoarding it means that I should really concentrate on defenses of our Clan, an attack will come is not a matter of if but rather a matter of when, I am also spending much more time in the forge as I keep trying to recycle and reinforce all of our current equipment.

Father tells me that maybe that is an actual excuse and that I am really just spending more time in the forge to actually flirt with Ingrid, does he have to say that during every meal, and where Felicia can listen to this? I hope that the fact that she pretty much sleeps naked in my bed would make it clear she has marked her territory, anyone who tries to sneak into my bed will find that the beauty sleeping on it will not take this kindly.

Yes, Felicia is beautiful, smart, kind, and supportive, but that is what most people think and see, they haven't seen how utterly terrifying she can be when she is really upset. I am of course not kidding, she is a master at using that whip, so much so that I think this is where the concept of the Dominatrix came from.

Her armor is light leather, she wields a whip with a metal tip, and when another woman comes near me she stares at her in such a way that this lady runs like she is running for dear life. "Well thanks to the Claw Clan, we managed to make a few dozen shields and spears thanks to them obtaining iron for us. I know Ingrid you are going to say this iron should be used for the new farming equipment."

"In a perfect world that is exactly what I would want, but the fact that we had to go through an intermediary to obtain what little iron we obtained tells me someone is trying to limit our sources of iron."

Someone stood right next to me, "Do you mean to tell me that you think they are trying to keep our clan from getting stronger Father? I also notice how we are having fewer traders come to our Clan territory, so that is something that makes me think you are correct, very impressed you can see things so clearly Father."

I looked at her and could not help but to both feel weird about a woman my age calling me Father, and very proud that she too can see the proverbial smoke in the horizon. "Which is why I am using this Iron to make better weapons and shield for our foot soldiers. Something tells me that we will enter into yet another war soon and we must be prepared."

She smiled and Ingrid for some reason began to laugh, "And here you are behaving like a war hawk, you who are always trying to think of ways to make life better for our Clan and our sister clan the Claw. Well, in the end, it just means that my forge will be busier, now if you will excuse me I need to get back to work. Come visit anytime Yuuto."

When she began to walk away Sigrun took hold of her arm and was glaring at her, "Ingrid is it one thing for Father to talk to you in a friendly manner, but that was not the appropriate way to address our patriarch, apologize for this instant."

I don't need formalities with the coming war, I need our warriors ready for battle. "Sigrun, we need to work together and formality may be necessary for times of peace, this clearly is not that time. Ingrid makes sure you follow my specifications on the new forging method and make the new spear and sword."

She looked at Sigrun with such anger that she looked at me and bowed, "It will be done, Father, thank you ever so much for the reminder big sister Sigrun, I will keep this in mind in the future."

She turned around and went to give instructions to the men and women who work with her in the forge. "Come Sigrun we must meet with my uncles and find out if they have any information on who is next enemy shall be." She didn't say a thing she just touched that sword I made especially for her and followed me.

I need to focus on the defenses of our Clan, I still wish Loptr had done the right thing and realized why Father did that, it is only by merit that a successor is chosen, choosing a successor simply because they are the children of the current Patriarch leads to corruption and decay, this is the law, but he still doesn't understand that.

Loptr is a great strategist in matters of combat, not so much in diplomatic matters. He sort of reminds me of my old mentor who said kill them all and let God sort them out. "Loptr, how I wish you trusted Father's decisions more, even if you do not trust or care about me at all. Well no matter, no sense crying over spilled milk."

As I began to walk up the stairs there was Felicia, and she was actually looking rather anxious, "Brother, it seems the others are quite anxious and wish to speak with you, it seems they want to know what your plans are." No wonder, they probably saw the new sword and spear designs, and probably want to know why the need for more iron.

I didn't say anything at all, I simply followed Felicia to the usual meeting room, this is one aspect of being Patriarch I will need to get used to but at the very least I can always consult Father should things become too hard or too troubling for me.

Everyone is present, every person in charge of each in charge of a key segment of our economy. If I didn't know any better this feels more like a Boardroom meeting than a Clan council meeting. Father was standing right next to my seat. I walked over to him and sat as he sat right next to me on my right and Felicia sat on the chair to my left still holding my hand.

"Very well, let's get this started, you may have noticed that I used the iron to forge the new alloy, and used said allow to make new weapons and shields. It is my belief that there is another clan that is trying desperately to hinder our ability to obtain more iron, what little we obtained was thanks to the efforts of our sister clan the Claw."

"This means someone wants to weaken our military strength and defenses yet again, now, Uncles, I understand that nobody wants to go into another war, when we just ended one, but sometimes we simply do not have a choice, and as much as it pains me that our urban and rural development has halted, we must be ready to defend ourselves."

"The new sword and spear have greater attack power and their weight allows for quicker attack speeds, the shield will deflect most of their arrows and attacks. Now that I explain this is there any questions you may have?"

As I sat down Father stood up and looked at me with a smile, I am worried when he smiles like that, "I have one question to our Patriarch, how long will you wait to finally ask for Felicia's hand in marriage and maybe start having a few children with her?" If I didn't know any better I would say Felicia is blushing about three shades of red right about now.

Never mind that in our Clan she is my sister, never mind that she sleeps each and every night in my bed as naked as the day she was born, never mind that I can't take a bath without her being there, at least I can go to the latrine by myself, but had she any choice she would be there too.

"Interpersonal details should be handled in private, we are discussing matters of Clan security and development. Do you have any questions that have to do with the safety of our Clan? Please, Father, I know you are worried about us, but trust me, when the time comes, I honestly don't think that will be my choice and the person in question will not let me make that choice, you know as well as I, she always gets what she wants."

Father sat down, "Now I would like to know if anyone knows of any aggressive attitudes the other Clans may have against us." One of the men stood up and looked at me, boy does he shave his head, "Jorgen sir, I do believe that the reason why the other clans cannot sell us any iron is that currently, the Horn Clan are doing everything they can to prevent ours from acquiring any iron."

"We have been adversaries of the Horn for generations nephew, it would not be strange that they are getting ready to test the strength of our new Patriarch. What is strange is that it has taken this long to actually begin attacking us, they are usually a very decisive clan. So if you are wondering who our next enemy is, I believe I answered you."

He is still bitter that Father was chosen instead of him, he is in charge of the roads and transit, and yet he was the one to tell me of the Horn Clan, Jorgen at least didn't take that tone when talking with me. As much as I would hate to admit it, Uncle is probably correct. It seems someone is pushing my schedule forward, even if I want to develop our clan a little more before another major war.

This was no better than what the Claw Clan once tried to do, but at the very least the Horn is being much more direct about this. They are somehow learning what we plan to do with the iron or they really are like the Claw and want to weaken our means to provide for our people and starve us out. Either way, it will not matter, I will stop at nothing to protect the Wolf Clan, and they will see why I am not a man to be taken lightly by the end of this campaign.


End file.
